And in an interview with CNN later that day, Jindal stood by his comments — though he was unable to offer specific examples to illustrate his claim.
“I’ve heard from folks here that there are neighborhoods where women don’t feel comfortable going in without veils. That’s wrong. We all know that there are neighborhoods where police are less likely to go into,” he told CNN’s Max Foster.
“I think that the radical Left absolutely wants to pretend like this problem is not here. Pretending it’s not here won’t make it go away.”
Pressed to offer specific examples of such areas, Jindal demurred, saying only “I think your viewers know absolutely there are places where the police are less likely to go. They absolutely know there are neighborhoods where they wouldn’t feel comfortable.”
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The Louisiana governor goes on to call for Muslim leaders to “condemn anyone who commits these acts of violence, and clearly state that these people are evil and are enemies of Islam.”
“Muslim leaders must make clear that anyone who commits acts of terror in the name of Islam is in fact not practicing Islam at all,” he said. “If they refuse to say this, then they are condoning these acts of barbarism. There is no middle ground.”
Despite criticism of the no-go zone idea, the speech drew praise from conservatives, with National Review columnist Larry Kudlow calling it a “brilliant take on radical Islam.”
“It is the toughest speech I have read on the whole issue of Islamic radicalism and its destructive, murdering, barbarous ways which are upsetting the entire world,” Kudlow wrote in an op-ed.
